BY MIKEY MIGO
I’m not going to lie. I’ve always been kind of creeped out by Joan Rivers. As a kid, I vaguely remember her talk show and have seen her do her thing on various red carpets and talk shows over the years. As I got older I could understand her jokes and a lot was funny. I just never connected with her humor. Appreciated? Of course. Her over the top personality and “I don’t give a shit” attitude is awesome. She is a living legend and doesn’t let up on her goals. But yeah… She was never one of my favorite comedians. But still when I first heard about this documentary I had to check it out. It seemed like an interesting subject and I’ve been on entertainment-related documentary kick as of late. I had nothing to lose. I ended up enjoying this 2010 documentary a lot. It showed a great introspective glare at who Joan Rivers is, her background, her struggles, her family, and her everything. It doesn’t really hold back. It presents itself as “one year in the life of…” and it’s a crazy ride. To give a clear view of the time frame, during this year they cover her Comedy Central Roast and her winning Celebrity Apprentice. It’s obviously a good period in her career, but there are some other projects that didn’t work as well. That’s one thing I picked up, for every triumphant appearance she’d have like 2 or 3 not so triumphant ones. I had no idea she had a stage play that sadly flopped and I didn’t really expect her to be taking gigs in BFE, Wisconsin. But she did and does. You learn that at 75 she still continues to push herself. She tries as many ways, old and new, to get her name out there more and more. She describes her career and life as “an industry”. She keeps going and going and has a support team around her that seem to struggle to keep up. At the same time, we get to see a very vulnerable side to Joan that I didn’t expect. She somberly tells the camera about how showbiz is all about rejection. She seems worn out and very fragile under her edgy and over the top character she puts on. This is even more apparent when talking about friends, family, and specifically her daughter Melissa. If you’re a fan of Joan Rivers then there is absolutely no reason not to watch this. You’ll laugh, you’ll learn, and you’ll appreciate. If you’re a fan of standup comedy, showbiz, or things like that then you’ll want to see how a real pro does it. If you’re just looking for an interesting and well made documentary then yeah, watch this. I don’t think it’s my favorite documentary of 2010, but it’ll probably be the one I’ll watch again the most. B+
|
